Fallbrook man pleads guilty to distribution of Fentanyl

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported last week that Corey Bernard Green, 41, of Fallbrook pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl, which will result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

A five-month investigation by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department resulted in federal charges last March against Green, who, according to a federal complaint, supplied the drug that led to the overdose of an unnamed Fallbrook man. Green was originally charged with Distribution of Fentanyl Resulting in the Death.

According to the United States Attorney's Office Southern District of California, an investigation of Green’s criminal activity found that on Nov. 30, 2017, Green was arrested and charged by the San Diego District Attorney’s Office with manufacturing a controlled substance. Green subsequently pleaded guilty to that charge and is currently serving a sentence in state custody.

The investigation surrounded an incident involving the 26-year-old Fallbrook man, known only as JAS, who told his wife he had been sober for 100 days and two days later she found him dead on the living room floor.

According to the report by the United States Attorney's Office, the investigation determined that JAS took an Uber taxi to Green’s residence to purchase fentanyl. An examination of JAS’s cell phone confirmed he paid for an Uber taxi on Friday morning, Nov. 3, 2017. He was found dead the next morning.

"As the opioid epidemic rages across the nation, we will do everything we can to save lives,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman at the time of the original chargers were announced. “That includes investigating overdose deaths as homicides and pursuing charges against dealers of the poison that is killing people every single day in this country.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that officials said is increasingly popular and extremely dangerous. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 25 to 50 times stronger than heroin, even in tiny doses.

Last year, 84 people died from fentanyl, 51 more fatalities than the 33 reported in 2016. This is the highest number of deaths from fentanyl ever recorded in San Diego County.

The latest report shows 273 San Diegans died from prescription drugs last year, an 8 percent increase from 2016 when 253 fatalities were reported. The previous record was set in 2012, when 268 prescription drug deaths occurred.